John 8:33

8:33 “We are descendants ¹  of Abraham,” they replied, ²  “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ³  ‘You will become free’?”

John 8:39-40

8:39 They answered him, ⁴  “Abraham is our father!” ⁵  Jesus replied, ⁶  “If you are ⁷  Abraham’s children, you would be doing ⁸  the deeds of Abraham. 8:40 But now you are trying ⁹  to kill me, a man who has told you ¹⁰  the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! ¹¹ 

John 8:53

8:53 You aren’t greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? ¹²  And the prophets died too! Who do you claim to be?”

[8:33]  ¹ tn Grk “We are the seed” (an idiom).

[8:33]  ² tn Grk “They answered to him.”

[8:33]  ³ tn Or “How is it that you say.”

[8:39]  ⁴ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[8:39]  ⁵ tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”

[8:39]  ⁶ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:39]  ⁷ tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).

[8:39]  ⁸ tc Some important mss (Ì⁶⁶ B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א² C K L N Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* B² D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).

[8:40]  ⁷ tn Grk “seeking.”

[8:40]  ⁸ tn Grk “has spoken to you.”

[8:40]  ⁹ tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.

[8:53]  ¹⁰ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are you?”).